A unique fluffy bird in the wild West Highlands of Scotland

Category: beach

Algy had been away for a while, visiting some dear old friends, but as his assistant had forgotten to take an essential piece of equipment with her, Algy’s adventures were temporarily interrupted during his absence from home.

In due course Algy returned, however, and feeling somewhat fatigued from his journey, he sought out a sunny spot on a tiny beach where he could spend a peaceful afternoon just resting and dreaming lazily of future adventures. Much of the “sand” in this particular place was still in the process of forming, and Algy found that he was surrounded by a fascinating array of sea shells in every state from whole shells to coarse shell sand. It was warm leaning against the dark rock, and it was not long before Algy started to doze…

The weather had been unpleasantly wintry in the latter part of April: temperatures had dropped to near freezing, bitter northerly gales had brought frequent showers of sleet and snow, and all the creatures of the west Highlands, Algy included, had taken cover and tried to keep warm as best they could.

But as the month drew to a close, the weather began to change, albeit very slowly, and on Wednesday the wind dropped and the world was filled with light. Although it was still very cold, Algy stretched himself out on the sand in front of the sparkling sea, and marvelled at the beautiful colours it could display when it had a mind to… He was surprised to find a substantial scattering of sea shells on this stretch of the beach, where they only rarely appeared, and wondered how so many could have got there so quickly.

Algy found a damp perch in the cold sunshine, and studied his surroundings. He was intrigued by the diverse patterns and colours of the seaweed-covered rocks, and the ever changing wavelets on the sand, created by the constant trickling of the wee burn which was trying to find its way across the beach to the sea. It reminded him of all his friends in diverse places around the world, from many different cultures and countries – some in the sunshine and some in the darkness, some in the cities and some in the countryside, some struggling with problems in their lives and some flowing happily along…

Algy hopes that you will all have a happy and peaceful Easter holiday weekend, and he sends you all lots of very special fluffy hugs xoxoxo

Most days were grey – either cold, damp and dreary, or drenched in heavy rain and dense Scotch mist. But from time to time the sun shone, and then Algy found a perch where he could feel a wee bit warmer and drier, and watch the play of light on the sea or the wee burn which had found itself a new path across the beach, twisting in and out of the masses of rock in a mysteriously elaborate pattern.

It was undoubtedly spring; the light was much stronger, the days were much longer, and the skylarks were singing merrily above the sand dunes… and yet the air was cold and the wind was sharp. Algy was inevitably reminded of T. S. Eliot’s famous opening lines from The Waste Land:

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

[Algy is quoting the opening lines of that most famous of early 20th century poems, The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot.]

The West Highlands of Scotland had been enjoying a few days of unusually fine March weather, and although it was cold at night, it was comfortably warm during the day… by Scottish standards, at least 🙂 The sky was blue, the larks were singing, and the pied wagtails had returned after their winter away. Algy knew, of course, that the good weather would not last long, but it certainly made a welcome change, and he was determined to enjoy it while he could. So he lingered late on the beach as the shadows lengthened and the temperatures dropped, until it got too chilly to linger any longer…

Algy hopped over to a denser patch of Marram grass, and made himself comfortable on a bed of the long, curving stems. It felt almost warm, tucked in there among the dry grasses of the sand dunes, and Algy began to doze happily in the sunshine, while the waves played merrily on the beach in front of him.